I took a look at the dreaded cam chain tensioners on my 04 Ultra and at 30K on the bike they both looked fairly decent, but took every thing out to take a closer look. I wanted to get away from the spring ratcheting shoes that have a history of problems, so I checked my pinion run-out and was pleased to see that it was under .003! Gear drive baby! I just made my order for the S&S 510G gear drive cam kit and the Quickee pushrod kit from J&P Cycles. I can't wait to put everything back together! No worries about plastic getting caught in the oil pump ever!

 

Thats on the hairy edge of tolerance for gear cams. Hope they work out. I have the s&s quickies and really like them.

 

I went with the 570G cams and have been happy with them, the only thing I might change if I did it again is I might have gone with the EZ starts.

 

Checked the tension shoes on my 01' road king at 20,400 and looked brand new.no wear at all.

 

what kind of numbers did you end up with???

 

Make sure you change the cam bearings while you're in there...I went to gear drive on my 03 RKC about 35,000 miles ago and have had no issues.

 

Ya'll are so lucky, I had gear drive in my 05 and loved them. These newer bike with the POS cranks that run out from hell.

 

I just went with 585 Gear drives. Shes a screamer now! I kind of like the muted gear whine.

 

I never had it Dynoed, so I don't know the exact numbers, but on Sunday I found out I can walk away from a Kawasaki Vaquero anytime I want, and that after over 10 seconds pegging the speedometer it just drops to zero until I slow down again. I don't usually ride that hard, but the power is there.

 

The pos cranks w/o the timken bearings began with model year 2003..........